Hungarian Pork and Sauerkraut Goulash

(Székelygulyás)

This is comfort food at it's best. It's a fairly simple braise that delivers serious amounts of flavor. The sauerkraut, gives a great tang and texture to the dish. The sour cream mixture added at the end turns it into something truly heavenly.

The first time I had something resembling this dish was at a Czech beer garden in Queens, N.Y. and I was blown away. There it was served with bready boiled Czech dumplings called knedliky. (Just the thing you need to soak up large quantities of fine Czech Pilsner!)

The original recipe comes from the New York Times and they say it was adapted from the Kehli tavern, Budapest. (Some sources attribute this dish to the Szekeli people of Transylvania, but Wikipedia's entry on goulash says that's not quite correct.)

I have modified the original New York Times recipe slightly after making it a few times. I've adjusted some of the ingredient quantities. Make sure you use a fresh can of good quality sweet Hungarian paprika. That 10-year old jar of paprika hiding in the back of your spice cabinet for sprinkling on top of deviled eggs for color lost its flavor long ago and isn't going to cut it.

Preparation Time: About 3 hours (it's worth it)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion(about ½ a medium onion)
1/3 cup sweet Hungarian paprika.
Pinch of hot Hungarian paprika, or cayenne (or 1 tsp smoked paprika and ½ tsp of chipotle powder if you have it around and like a little smoky flavor and heat.)
1 ½ pounds boneless pork loin or pork shoulder, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
½ teaspoon minced fresh dill(or ¼ teaspoon dry)
½ Italian frying pepper, finely chopped (totally optional)
1 ripe tomato, seeded and finely chopped . (Or substitute 1 cup of good quality canned tomato product.)
2 lbs. packaged (refrigerated, not canned) sauerkraut, rinsed well and drained.
(note: 1 standard bag or a big jar of Claussen or Bubbies fresh sauerkraut works fine. Works out to about a pound after rinsing and draining.)

¾ cups sour cream
¾ cups heavy cream.
¾ tablespoon (~2 teaspoons) all-purpose flour.

1. Heat the oil in a 4- to 6-quart dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and add 2 tablespoons water and the sweet paprika and hot paprika. Place pan over low heat, and saute 3 minutes. Add pork, garlic, caraway seeds, dill and 2-3 more tablespoons water. Cover, and cook on low until pork is tender, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding a tablespoon or two of water if it seems too dry. Pork will release a fair amount of water, so give it 15-20 minutes before adding any water.

2. Add tomato and optional chopped pepper to pan. Cover, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until about half the liquid has evaporated. Add sauerkraut and toss gently to combine. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for an additional hour.

3. Combine sour cream, heavy cream, and flour and mix well. Add to pan and stir. Cover and continue to cooking, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Garnish with more sour cream if desired.

4. Serve over noodles, dumplings, thick sliced toast, or other favorite starch.  Or not.

Yield: 6 servings.